Without you
by JosieCarter
Summary: No one understood their love, not her friends or her family. For months she dealt with it silently, she even got through not seeing him with the hope that one day they'd be together again but what happens when she is pushed to a breaking point because of the words of her friend? Will she be able to cope or will she do something potentially harmful to his career and her reputation?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: There is no A in this story and it is set during season 2, Aria's friends weren't aware of the relationship until Aria told her parents. Ezra is also in New Orleans. **

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**Without You.**

Every day grew harder and harder without him, pretending that she no longer loved him and held no place for him in her heart hurt her more than words could say. Never had she imagine lying to her friends and family could hurt her as much.

Perhaps it wasn't even that she was lying but that she was lying about something so honest and pure, something they would never understand.

The reaction she received from her family was understandable to say the least but when her friends reacted so – harshly, so negatively. It truly hurt her, heck Spencer even offered to ride her to the goddamn Principal's house so she could tell him that she was the victim of an inappropriate relationship.

It had officially been two hundred days, eight whole months since she had seen him, sure they texted and called each other especially now that she had won her phone privileges back, but it wasn't the same.

She longed for his touch, she longed for his skin against hers and his lips touching hers wiping all her worries but him being in her presence wasn't likely, he had been forced to leave his home by the words of her father.

Byron threatened him that he could call the police not caring about the effect it would have on his daughter, Ezra wasn't willing to leave at first. He had told her that life without her sounded miserable and that he was going to stay, but she insisted he leave. She couldn't bear the thought of him being locked up because of her.

In theory they were a lot more wrong then they were right but who gave a damn about theory? When they were together, nothing mattered, not the law or the social implications of their relationships. All that mattered was that they had each other.

Some days she considered herself lucky after all not everyone met their soul mate at sixteen but then she thought about all the complications and the heart ache she had gone through not because of the man she loved but instead because of the people who were supposed to care about her and want her happiness.

They didn't understand, none of them. Not her friends, not her family, no one understood.

And now she sat in the classroom in which he once used to teach sitting thinking about the man she loved and whether they would ever get their happy ever after. Instead of a man, who always had a boyish smile grace his face and a sparkle in his eyes whenever he smiled, stood a woman teaching, One whom Aria didn't particularly like.

The bell rang relieving most of the students; it was lunch now which Aria would have to sit between swamps of couples. She walked alongside her friends, and heard her phone buzz, she looked at the screen and a smile made way onto her face.

_Tristan_

Ever since her father had begun to check her phone, she had decided it was better if she changed his name from E.F. to well – Tristan.

It wasn't as cheesy as calling him Romeo but at the same time it somewhat, when she had told him, he reminded her about Tristan and Isolde's tragic ending however she retaliated by saying that their ending wasn't going to be as tragic. They would be happy, one day, despite his previous hesitation he too believed that one day they would be together once against and changed her name to Isolde.

"I—I have to take this call—I'll catch up with you guys later."

Hanna smirked "Is it Noel? He was telling Sean all about your date and about your super-hot kiss" She said, Aria bit her lower lip which Hanna perceived to be a yes.

"Oh it is, look at that blush" Spencer said, smiling.

Emily spoke next "Okay guys leave her be, she can tell us about the kiss later" She said and the girls all walked off together.

Aria answered the phone quickly "Hello, just give me a minute" She said and quickly rushed into the bathroom; she walked into a stall and began to speak once she saw the toilets were all empty.

"_I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be calling you during school but I just needed to hear your voice" _His voice said, sounding somewhat broken.

"I know how you feel, think of it this way, we've only got four months until I graduate and then I'll find a school near you and we'll move into an apartment together—"

He interrupted her _"Aria, you know that I don't want you to limit your choices of colleges because of me, you're not going to limit yourself for me. Wherever you go, whatever college you get into and want to go to, I'll follow you there. Even if it's France." _

Aria smiled at the thought of them being together in France "You'd never last in France" She said, teasingly.

"_Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" _He said, defensively causing her to giggle.

"Well have you have forgotten that incident at that French vegan restaurant we went to a couple of months back?"

He sighed dramatically _"That was not my fault, did you see what they were serving?" _

"French food is wonderful" Aria said in response.

"_It's not that, it's the fact it was vegan!" _

"Hey!" Aria said, giggling "Shut your mouth, vegan food is wonderful."

"_You're wonderful"_ He said, making her smile grow bigger.

"I miss you so much, Ezra" She mumbled.

"_I miss you too, I love you, Aria. Never forget that, no matter what happens" _ He said, just when Aria was about to respond, she saw feet below the door.

"I—have to to go. I'll speak to you later." She said and quickly hung, she opened the door and saw the one and only Spencer Hastings looking at her with her arms crossed against her chest.

Spencer sent her a look that could only be perceived as letting Aria know how disappointed she was of her.

"It was _him_, wasn't it?" She said, Aria cringed as she heard the bitterness in Spencer's voice "And don't you dare lie to me"

"How long have you been standing there?" Aria asked, wanting to know how much Spencer had heard.

"Long enough, answer my damn question. Was it him?"

"I think you know the answer" She said as she walked out of the stall and put the phone in her back pocket, she stood in front of Spencer with her hands crossed against her chest.

"I should have known, there's no way in hell you would want to date Noel Kahn! I can't believe he's still manipulating you" Spencer said, bitterly.

"_Manipulating? _He's not manipulating me, I love him, Spencer and he loves me" Aria said with wide eyes, she couldn't possibly believe why Spencer was acting this way.

"No, he doesn't, Aria. There have been cases of these relationships all over the world, and in the end it's always the same result. It's not your fault; I don't even know what he was possibly said to make you believe his lies. Did he force you into anything?"

"No, no. Of course not, Spencer, Ezra's a good man. We met before school started" She began to tell the story she hadn't gotten the chance to tell before "When he found out he was my teacher, he tried to break it off but I was persistent. There was always something between us. We couldn't deny that"

"This is even worse, was he stalking you before when you met?" Spencer said and Aria almost let out a laugh.

"For a smart girl, you're acting really dumb right now."

Spencer wasn't affected by her comment "You need to stop seeing him or"

"Or what, Spencer"

"Or I'll tell your parents" She said, hesitantly.

Aria's eyes widened once again "You're going to tell on me?" She let out a bitter laugh "You may not understand but I love him, always have and always will. Telling my parents won't change that and if you were truly my friend, you'd understand. Goodbye Spencer" She said pushing past her.

Spencer followed Aria into the hallway "What the hell are you going?" she yelled loudly but Aria didn't respond instead she left the school building and got into her car.

She wiped a lonesome tear and looked at her phone thinking about Ezra, biting her lower lip she typed in a location in her GPS not caring about what anyone thought anymore.

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**Hope you guys enjoyed it, i honestly don't even know where i'm going with this. This idea just popped into my head during Maths (don't ask) anyways i just thinking how it would be if her friends weren't as supportive regarding her relationship because i know if my friend especially the one who has a crush on a teacher right now (not going to mention any names, ahem ahem _San_) were to go out with a teacher, i wouldn't be exactly supportive because well it's not tv, it's real life and chances are (excluding the rare case/beauty of ezria) that the teacher is taking advantage. Anyways hope you liked and review to let me know if you want me to upload the second chapter. **

**xoxo Josie**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the delay. Hope you enjoy it! :)**

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_L_ove was a complicated thing, it was crazy and beyond your control. You have no choice with who you fall in love with like you have no choice in choosing your family. Sure, you could go on dates with certain people whom you've specifically picked out and with whom you share common interests but that didn't necessarily mean you'd eventually fall in love with the person.

Ezra Fitz didn't choose to fall in love with Aria Montgomery, it just happened. His infatuation with her caused him to continue pursuing their illicit affair, after which love had just come naturally.

He wasn't going to lie, originally he continued with the relationship hoping to somehow grow out of it like when you sometimes wake up and realise that you no longer have a crush on the person whom you believed to have been in love with for the past couple of months.

But that certainly was not the case with the two of them, every time he spent time with her; he had found himself falling deeper and deeper for her. When he had originally met her, she was sixteen years old and yet was more mature and intelligent than most of the people he knew that were his age.

Theoretically, they were very wrong. Their relationship was deemed inappropriate and unacceptable in theory but that was only theory, he loved Aria beyond measure. Theory didn't prove anything; it didn't prove the purity or honesty of their relationship.

A year and a half had passed since he had struck up conversation with her that day at the bar, and in that year he had gone through a lot with her. He didn't regret starting that conversation, one thing he did regret was not standing up to her father.

Byron didn't understand, understandably, but Ezra should have made him understand. He should have shown him how much he truly loved Aria but he didn't and every single night he regretted his cowardly actions of leaving Rosewood.

It hadn't exactly been his decision, Aria had practically packed his bags but if Ezra would've stayed maybe Byron would have understood.

Ezra sighed as he poured some scotch into a glass which wasn't the smartest to do considering the fact he had class in a couple of hours but he didn't care. He needed a glass to get him through the day.

He ignored the sound of the phone ringing and let it go to voice mail.

_Hey Ezra, it's me Aria—I'm guessing you know that, if you don't. You're an awful boyfriend. I just want to apologize about how our conversation ended yesterday—apparently Spencer was listening in, don't worry. I love you, call me._

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"_Y_ou did what"

Hanna's voice echoed through the car coinciding with the screeching of the car as it was bought a halt; Spencer had just been telling the girls her side of the story trying to take the blame off her before they entered the Montgomery threshold

"I told her as it is, I told her the truth. I told her that sick pervert was only using her and manipulating her for his own advantage. God knows what he made her do"

"I can't believe you did that, Spence. You know how sensitive she is on this issue, she thinks she loves him so we have to help not tell her that the guy she thinks she's in love with is a freak" Hanna said, with wide eyes as she turned to face her uptight best friend.

"He deserves to rot in jail; I can't understand why the Montgomery's haven't called the cops. I know if it were my parents they would have called the police as soon as they suspected it" Spencer said, irritated.

"Perhaps they doubt that he doesn't really love her, that what they had between them was real" Emily spoke as she knocked on the door, her friends both stared at her horrified.

"But it isn't real" Spencer said with a pointed look

"How do you know that?" Emily questioned quickly "None of us have given Aria a chance to speak, we were all so quick to jump on the '_he's using her bandwagon' _perhaps he wasn't, perhaps he actually loves her."

"It's wrong" Hanna muttered "He was her teacher for god sake"

"How long have we all known Aria? Has she ever done something she didn't want to? No, she's passionate and strong-willed. She'd never let anyone use her" Emily said, firmly.

They were all silent for a moment; they all had their own separate views on Aria-Ezra case. Spencer firmly was against it, Hanna was indecisive, Emily was all for her friend's happiness.

The door opened revealing a clearly hung-over Mike "What do you want?" He muttered annoyed wanting to get back to the party.

"Your sister, we'll make our own way up" Hanna said and began to walk past him but he stopped her and looked at them with curious eyes.

"She's not here" Mike said "She called me last night and told she was spending the night at a friends' and told me to cover for her"

"Okay thanks Mike" Emily replied with a smile as the girls began to walk away again, they all knew where she was gone "So I guess we should call this a night or day" she said, looking at the sky.

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked "We're going to bring Aria back, now."

"Okay Spence, this is getting a little too much" Hanna said in response.

"We don't know whether he's using her or not, this is a perfect opportunity to find out." Spencer said, Hanna rolled her eyes as she realised what she was getting dragged into.

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_A_ria Montgomery had never been one to make decisions using her head before her heart which had primarily been the reason she pursued a relationship with her teacher and the reason she was now driving to New Orléans to visit the love of her life.

It wasn't the best decision she had ever made, it was impromptu, reckless and potentially dangerous to her reputation and his career which almost made her turn around on several occasions.

She wasn't necessarily worried about herself but more about him, what if she got caught? Her parents would go ballistic and the boarding school she had persuaded them not to send her to would be known as her current address.

**But **then again they weren't even in the state; they were all the way in Wyoming visiting Ella's sister who had just given birth and they wouldn't be back until late next week.

Mike wouldn't tell since Aria was keeping his parties a secret and Aria had called her parents to let them know she took half of the day off because she was feeling sick. The likelihood of them finding out was extremely little much to her relief.

Sighing slightly she thought of her day and how it had gone from miserable to unbearable partly due to Spencer's incessant belief that she was right all the time and partly because she missed him so much it hurt.

A smile graced her face as she entered New Orléans, she had spent most of the day before driving until she was too tired to drive so she stayed at a questionable looking motel but after a couple of hours of sleeping she was feeling renewed.

Driving had never been something she enjoyed, she had preferred walking or riding shotgun but knowing she was going to see Ezra made it enjoyable. Aria looked at the time; it was ten minutes past three. He was probably still at work, she typed the address of the school into her GPS and followed it quickly.

Stepping out of the car, she let out a sigh of relief as she felt the fresh air hit her face. Her eyes widened as she looked at the school, it was certainly no rosewood high. Hoping she would go unnoticed, she kept her gaze down and walked into the school.

After stopping someone, she finally found where his classroom was. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw him through the window; he was sitting and marking papers. His classroom was empty. She knocked on the day.

"Hello Mr Fitz, I have a question" Aria said, trying to make her voice sound different to usual. He nodded still looking down at the paper.

"Yeah"

"Did you miss me?" Her voice broke slightly as tears unwittingly filled her eyes, she forced a smile as he looked up at her completely and utterly shocked.

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**Hey guys, so let me know what you think about this chapter and if you'd like me to continue in a REVIEW! thanks:)**

**xoxo Josie**


	3. Chapter 3

There are some things in life that you remember forever, sometimes they're big things like graduating or having a baby but other times they're the tiniest things such as waking up to the person you love making you breakfast or that one time that stranger did something incredibly sweet for you.

For Ezra Fitz, this was a moment he would never forget. He'd never forget the moment she showed up out of the blue, the way she sounded or looked. Hesitantly, he got out of his chair and walked towards her.

His hand reached up to touch her cheek almost as if he was afraid he was dreaming. She closed her eyes as she felt his touch as she opened her eyes, a small smile formed on her face; he pulled her into a hug wrapping his arms around her petite body. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I missed you" She mumbled against his chest "So much" She emphasized as she listened to his heartbeat.

"I missed you too." He said as he pulled away from the hug and looked at, still in disbelief. He grinned "I can't believe you're here right now"

"Neither can I" She said, with a giggle "It's not the smartest idea I've ever had" Aria added, sheepishly, his arms were still wrapped around her waist and her hands were placed on his chest.

"That may be true but I'm glad you're here" Ezra said, honestly, there was something in his voice that told Aria he was nervous. She didn't quite understand why until later that night, she didn't understand the feelings of cowardice or the regrets he had.

Her hands moved up to his neck and she tiptoed placing her lips on his, it began softly and was definitely chaste but soon it deepened. He ran his hands up and down her waist softly caressing her skin, his tongue begged for entrance which she allowed. Soon their tongues battled for dominance.

He placed his hands on her upper-thigh and picked her up, she let out a squeal. As he placed her on the desk, she wrapped her legs around his waist. His lips moved from hers down to her neck. Eyes closed, she let out a moan, unwittingly, of course. Her hands fumbled with his tie loosening it.

The door opened, a gasp could be heard, they immediately let go of one another. Ezra turned to face the person, who, of course was a student from his AP English class. The blonde namely June had a look of horror on her face but then again who wouldn't when they saw their English teacher wrapped in a passionate embrace with a woman who looked young enough to be their friend.

"—June—um" Ezra stuttered, he scratched the back of his neck whilst Aria, dumbfounded, remained on the desk. The student simply took out a paper from her bag and handed it to him.

"I'm sorry about interrupting your um—yeah. I um I—go. See you Monday, Fitz—I mean Mr Fit. No Mr Fitz." Her eyes were as wide as can be; she stumbled over her words before simply leaving.

Ezra gulped as he watched her leave, he looked at Aria who was clearly trying to hold in a laugh and rubbed his eyes out of worry. He looked at her again and spoke, teasingly "You think that's funny? I'm going to be the talk of the school"

"Wouldn't be the first time" She said, with a mischievous glint in her eyes "Poor girl, she so clearly had a crush on you. She's probably heart-broken."

He furrowed his eye-brows in confusion "June doesn't have a crush on me" He said.

"Yes, _June _does" Aria said, mockingly "Why are you so shocked? It's not the first time a student's had a crush on you" She added after he placed the paper on the desk, walking over to her.

A smirk formed on his face "Right, yes, I believe a certain little lady with an infatuation with The Great Gatsby did." He wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Shut up" She said, sheepishly. He chuckled and eskimo-kissed her nose "I love you" She mumbled.

"I love you too." He said as he looked into her eyes "More than you will ever know." She looked into his lust-filled eyes as he spoke again "Want to get out of here?" To which Aria nodded eagerly.

About fifteen minutes later, they arrived to the apartment complex in which he lived, on the way Aria romanticized about living here next to him. New Orleans was certainly a great place after all it was full of history and jazz and beauty.

She imagined walking next to him on a Friday next, she imagined dancing alongside him in a flapper styled dress, she imagined being with him every day and every night but the truth of the matter was that it was probably not going to happen at least not until she graduated.

They walked side by side, hand in hand, into the elevator. For a moment, only a mere one, they simply stood side by side not speaking or touching however as the elevator door closed. She turned to face him; her stare caused him to also turn to face her.

All it took was a stare from her and he immediately pushed her against the wall pinning her arms above her as he kissed her, passionately and full of lust. Wide eyed, she stared at him and for a second he regretted his previous actions.

She moved her hand down and placed it on both sides of his face before leaning in once more. The door opened, Ezra sighed and walked out grabbing her hand as he did causing her to giggle.

As he opened the door to his apartment, she didn't care to see how it was instead they resumed their previous activities.

"God, I've missed you" He said in between kisses, she nodded not replying. His hands toyed with the edge of her shirt before lifting it off her petite body and throwing it behind him, her hands fumbled with the buckle of his belt before taking it off.

Soon enough the both of them were simply in their underwear and had moved over to the bed. She was straddling him and placing kisses down from his neck to his chest slowly moving down, as she moved more and more down. He moaned in pleasure but then immediately froze.

"Aria, stop" He said, she quickly raised her head whilst sitting on his lap, her eyes were wide almost as if she was afraid she had done something wrong. He sighed. "I'm sorry, I can't—we can't—"

She let out a little laugh out of disbelief "Why not? Did I do something wrong?" She asked, looking into his eyes. As he did the same, he could see a speck of anger in hers.

"No. You didn't, you were—good but we shouldn't be doing this" Ezra said, quietly, referring to what was about to happen.

Aria glared at him not believing a word that came out of his mouth, she got off his lap and walked over bending down giving him a view of her ass which he really didn't want to focus on especially since she was angry—he wondered why she had to wear such risqué underwear.

Was it to torture him?

He watched as she grabbed his shirt off the floor and throw it over her underwear-clad body. She walked over to the couch and laid down there.

"Aria" He said, softly "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping, since you don't want to _fuck_ me, I'm assuming you don't want to sleep next to me" She spoke, angrily. Her voice somewhat muffled due to the pillow.

He cringed as he heard that word, the truth was that he did want to sleep with her; he wanted to make love to her and explore every aspect of her body. He wanted to pleasure her and make their relationship a physical one as well as an emotional one.

They had never discussed sex from the start, it was always fairly obvious that they couldn't and it was an unspoken thing however he knew that they both wanted to do it, they both wanted to make love. On several occasions, they had even come close to it but he had always stopped it.

Most relationships were based around sex and some had even started due to it but they were different. She was still a high school student, she wasn't eighteen yet and he was a high school teacher.

Ezra got up from his position and walked over to the couch sitting on the table in front of her, she turned her body positioning herself so that her back was facing him.

"Aria—I'm sorry. I know _you _want to and I do too but we can't not until you graduate. I want this relationship to remain as it always has, pure and honest."

Salty warmth of water flooded her eyes, she closed her eyes tightly but they escaped and slowly strolled down her cheek. She was being irrational and she knew it but she couldn't help the insecurity that came with being rejected by the person she loved.

"Do you not find me attractive?" Aria murmured, his eyes widened wondering how she could have jumped to that conclusion. To him, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, he could write a poem based on her beauty in fact he already had.

"No. no, of course not, you're gorgeous. You're perfect, so much so that it scares me from time to time. You're the epitome of grace and beauty. You, my dear, are so attractive –." He spoke honestly.

Unable to stop herself, she let out a little giggle. "Stop" She said, smiling softly. She sat up and faced him pulling her legs up to her chest. He saw the damp skin surrounding her eyes and pressed his thumb against her skin wiping away her tears.

"I'm sorry" Ezra mumbled as he pressed his lips against her forehead.

"No, I am for being irrational. I don't why but when you said stop, I just felt really insecure. It's stupid. I'm sorry" She spoke, quickly.

"Don't be, your insecurities aren't stupid but know one thing, Aria, to me you are the most intelligent, mature, witty person ever. I would love you simply for those reasons; your beauty is just a bonus, an extremely good bonus." He smiled and Aria patted the space next to her which he came and sat down on.

She moved herself sitting slightly on his lap; he wrapped his arms around her body whilst kissing her forehead.

"I love you so much, Aria, every single day I regret not standing up to Byron. I was a coward, I should have fought for our love, for us, you deserve that at the very least." He said, honestly, his voice breaking ever so slightly. It killed her as she looked into his eyes and saw the pain.

"I'm glad you didn't, if you had, I would be visiting you in a prison cell and that's something we don't need. Love may be irrational and impulsive but there are times when we need to make decisions we don't necessarily like but are the best for us at the time. Back then, you had made the right decision, at least this way we only have four months not a whole sentence until we see one another." She said as she looked into his eyes, she leaned in and gently pressed her lips against his.

"I love you too."

That night they had made their way onto Ezra's bed lying next to each other, all the insecurities of the night had disappeared and the only thing that mattered was one another and the minuscule time they had together.

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**Personally, i love this chapter, hopefully you all feel the same. If you do, leave it down in a review. Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Please?**


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